Imperial Beach SWAT Standoff

Early this morning I got a text informing me that the San Diego Sheriff and a SWAT team were converging on a residence in my neighborhood, Imperial Beach. So, I checked out the scanner and found out that the location of the event was at 13th St. and Holly Ave., about 5 minutes away from my house. Awesome! I headed over there and started taking pictures.

The entire area and Holly Ave. in particular were completely closed off. All the mainstream media was represented at 13th and Holly as well as at 14th and Holly but were all being kept a good half block away from the action. This prompted me to head 1 block south to Hemlock Ave., which was not blocked off so I could get a view of the actual apartment the suspect was holed up in.

San Diego SWAT Team in Imperial Beach

After chatting up some residents of the street, one man allowed me entrance to an apartment that was on the second floor and looked right onto the porch of the apartment where the suspect was. I was a solid 300 feet closer than any of the other media outlets and since the apartment I was in as well as the apartment the suspect was in were both adjacent to each other AWAY from the street, I had the best view in town.

San Diego Sheriff and SWAT Prepare To Breach An Apartment

The SWAT team did not seem to be worked up at all as they stood en masse on the porch of the apartment the suspect was in. Helicopters were constantly circling overhead so I was only able to hear snippets of what the SWAT guys were saying but what I did hear was normal conversation about guns, their wives and what they were going to do over the weekend.

SWAT in Imperial Beach

I left before the suspect ultimately gave himself up, without a fight. I spent two hours on the scene and bailed about an hour before it ended. The two SWAT members you see above are the same two that you see in the video below. The apartment on the far left is where the suspect was. I was in the building the two SWAT guys are standing next to when I shot the video and photos for this post, with the obvious exception of the first one.

Anyway, what is going to be a busy weekend for me started out with a bang so if nothing else, this thing got me all ramped up and ready to go. Cheers!